by USA TODAY

by USA TODAY

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Radim Vrbata scored three goals, Mike Smith stopped 23 shots, and the Phoenix Coyotes opened their first season with an owner in four years by routing the New York Rangers 4-1 on Thursday night.

With NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the club's new owners in attendance, the Coyotes turned a tight game into a one-sided contest behind Vrbata's second consecutive hat trick - dating to last season - and fifth of his career.

Kyle Chipchura also scored, Martin Hanzal had two assists, and Smith made some tough saves on a pair of early penalty kills, including one from his stomach on a shot by Benoit Pouliot.

Marc Staal scored a power-play goal for the short-handed Rangers in their first game under new coach Alain Vigneault.

This opening night in the desert was one many didn't think would ever come.

Ownerless since Jerry Moyes took the team into bankruptcy in 2009, the Coyotes spent the previous four years playing under the shadow of an uncertain future, never knowing if each season would be their last in Arizona.

That changed over the summer, when George Gosbee, Anthony LeBlanc and the rest of IceArizona followed through where so many suitors had failed, purchasing the franchise from the NHL for $170 million.

The deal revitalized the fan base and immediately triggered a change of fortune, giving Phoenix the financial footing to compete with the NHL's other 29 teams. The new ownership allowed the Coyotes to keep general manager Don Maloney and coach Dave Tippett in place, prevent Smith from signing elsewhere, and snag Mike Ribeiro, the top-line center they were unable to lure while under the constraints of being run by the league.

Vrbata got the new era off to a great start

The Rangers went into this season with a fresh start of sorts, as well.

Following the firing of coach John Tortorella, New York turned to Vigneault. The former Vancouver coach brought with him a softer voice than the growling Tortorella - not a hard thing to do - and promised an aggressive, attacking style.

The Rangers faced some big obstacles to start the season, though.

Captain Ryan Callahan was out for at least the opener, and forward Carl Hagelin will be out at least the first 10 games, both with shoulder injuries. New York also starts with a daunting road trip, playing nine games in 23 days away from home because of renovations to Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers looked sluggish early in the opener, and Phoenix capitalized with Chipchura scoring on a one-timer off a feed from Rob Klinkhammer from behind the net.

New York picked up the pace late in the first period and early in the second, tying it early on a goal by the defenseman Staal, who beat Smith with a wrister to the stick side.

It was all Coyotes after that.

Vrbata scored less than four minutes after Staal's goal, collecting his own rebound and lifting it over Henrik Lundqvist. Vrbata made it 3-1 early in the third period on a power play, beating Lundqvist from above the left circle on a shot through traffic.

He put the game away and sent the hats flying to the ice by completing the natural hat trick on a 4-on-4, punching in a rebound after creating a turnover behind New York's net. Vrbata also had three goals in last season's finale against Anaheim.

Capitals 5, Flames 4

WASHINGTON (AP) - Washington Capitals coach Adam Oates wants his team to focus less on power plays and more on even-strength situations.

"It's tough to tell Ovi about that," Oates said.

For one night, Oates will give Alex Ovechkin a reprieve.

Ovechkin scored two goals, including one on a power play and assisted on Nicklas Backstrom's game-tying power-player goal at 14:10 of the third.

He also scored in a shootout, and the Washington Capitals rallied from an early three-goal deficit to beat the Calgary Flames 5-4 on Thursday night.

Washington was 2-for-3 on the power play.

Michal Neuvirth, who replaced an ineffective Braden Holtby, made 27 saves and stopped Sven Baertschi and Jiri Hudler in the shootout.

"You're looking for some sort of momentum change," Oates said of switching goalies after Calgary took a 3-0 lead in the first period.

"The time it takes to do that, maybe a new guy, the guys start talking among themselves. Some coaches yell. I just kind of said things to guys. You're just looking for them to re-group."

Marcus Johansson assisted on all three second-period goals for Washington, which earned its first win after dropping the opener to the Blackhawks on Tuesday night.

Calgary, which has missed the playoffs the past four seasons, has lost four straight season openers.

"Very happy with the effort, obviously disappointed with the result," Flames coach Bob Hartley said. "I told the boys, 'It's one thing to play in the NHL, and there a different way to win in the NHL.'

"We're not going to start tonight on Game 1 saying, 'Oh, we're young' and this. There's absolutely no excuse."

The Capitals fought back in the second period, scoring three goals - the second two by Ovechkin and first by Carrick, who got behind the Flames' defense and had a clear path to the net.

David Jones, acquired in an offseason trade with the Colorado Avalanche, gave Calgary a 1-0 lead at 5:18 of the first period.

About three minutes later, Lance Bouma's check left Washington defenseman Jack Hillen injured on the ice while Tom Wilson had a fight with Bouma.

Wilson and Bouma both connected punches before Wilson flipped Bouma to the ice. Both received five-minute majors.

Hillen, who suffered a lower-body injury and did not return, was helped up and off the ice by teammates. Ovechkin escorted Hillen, who leaned on a trainer, across the ice to the bench.

Oates said Hillen was at the hospital "is going to be out for a bit."

Stempniak made it 2-0 with the teams playing 4-on-4 midway through the period.

Hudler added a power-play goal with a slap shot at 16:22 of the first.

Oates said he believed his team was still reeling from its loss Tuesday, when Chicago earned a 6-4 win.

"I think we were really flat coming out. I really do," Oates said. "I didn't expect it, but I really thought we were. And you know what? It was their first night. They were flying."

Oates said Holtby would start when the Capitals play the Stars on Saturday. "Everybody has hiccups," Oates said. "Everybody."

Panthers 4, Stars 2

DALLAS (AP) - Florida's Aleksander Barkov enjoyed his debut a little more than all the new faces for the Dallas Stars.

The 18-year-old player from Finland scored the tying goal, veteran Marcel Goc followed with the first of his two in the third period, and the Panthers spoiled Lindy Ruff's first game as Dallas coach with a 4-2 victory over the Stars on Thursday night.

"It had a lot of aspects to it," said Panthers coach Kevin Dineen, whose team had the worst record in the lockout-shortened season after a division-winning campaign. "Our young players coming through and making a difference, a really nice goal. Our veteran guys stepping up when they needed to."

The Panthers erased a 2-1 deficit with goals about 4½ minutes apart.

Barkov, the No. 2 pick in this year's draft, scored as bodies piled up around Kari Lehtonen in front of the Dallas net. The teenager found the loose puck, spun and shot it inside the left post to make it 2-2.

"He had a big game," Panthers forward Kris Versteeg said. "He ended up playing well. He played great for us."

Goc put Florida in front when he took a centering pass from Tomas Fleischmann and beat Lehtonen with 4:55 remaining. He scored again into an empty net in the final 2 minutes.

"We didn't win enough battles," said Ruff, who spent 15 seasons with Buffalo before getting fired by the Sabres in the middle of last season. "When it was 2-2 and they walked in through the neutral zone to score, that wasn't a good play for our team."

Three minutes before Barkov's goal, Brenden Dillon gave Dallas a 2-1 lead with a short-handed goal. He trailed a play that was started near center ice by Vernon Fiddler and put the puck in an open net after Tim Thomas stopped Antoine Roussel.

The Stars couldn't hold the lead in the regular-season debut of "Victory Green" jerseys, carrying a shade closer to what the franchise had in Minnesota before moving south two decades ago.

They also had a bevy of new faces, but all the scoring for Dallas was by holdovers. Center Tyler Seguin had the biggest contribution among the newcomers with two shots in 16-plus minutes.

"They played the same way all night," Dillon said. "They worked up and down the ice, and just came back on us. We can't take anything for granted. No lead is safe."

Barkov wasn't the only teenager taken in the top 10 this year to make his debut on Dallas ice. But Valeri Nichushkin, an 18-year-old Russian taken at No. 10 by the Stars, had a much quieter night.

Nichushkin had one shot in more than 17 minutes of ice time. Barkov ended up with four shots in 13:19.

The Stars pulled even at 1 in the second period when Alex Chiasson went behind the net and stuffed the puck past Thomas, Tom Gilbert and Brian Campbell as they converged. The Panthers trio knocked the net loose just as Chiasson's shot crossed the goal line.

Dallas' Ryan Garbutt and Florida's Dmitry Kulikov were ejected in the first period when they started fighting a few moments after Panthers defenseman Mike Weaver and Roussel fought. The sequence started when Weaver shoved Roussel after the Stars forward kept poking at the puck in Thomas' pads.

Roussel received a 10-minute misconduct, but wasn't ejected, and was given an extra 2-minute penalty for instigating.

Scott Gomez, a 14-year veteran in his first season with the Panthers, opened the scoring with a backhand shot from the crease after a pass from behind the net by Scottie Upshall.

"This is a new day for him," Thomas said of Gomez. "I know he's going to score a lot this year. The monkey is off his back."

Blues 4, Predators 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) - David Backes and his St. Louis Blues teammates were just trying to keep pace with the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.

Backes had a goal and assist in the first period to lead the Blues to a 4-2 win over the Nashville Predators in the season opener for both teams.

St. Louis scored three times in the first 9:45 to jump in front 3-0 and chase Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne.

The early scoring came on the heels of the Cardinals' 9-1 win over Pittsburgh in the opening game of the NL Division Series.

The start of the hockey game was moved back 30 minutes to allow the fans time to make the five-block trek from Busch Stadium,

"The Cards scored nine today, we were trying to keep up," Backes said.

The baseball game was shown on the scoreboard before the Blues game, charging up the already crazed crowd.

Watching the Cardinals roll to an easy win set the tone for hockey team, which came out on a roll.

"It's exciting, everything that's going on in this city," defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "It was a great day for St. Louis sports. The fans were really into it.

"I'm just glad we were able to put on a good show."

Pietrangelo had two first-period assists to pace the early scoring.

Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves for the Blues and improved to 9-3-3 against the Predators.

Backes, Vladimir Sobotka, T.J. Oshie and Alex Steen scored for St. Louis, which was 2-of-4 on the power play.

The Blues came out aggressively, scoring three times on their first six shots.

"The first 10 minutes were ideal," Backes said. "This was a result we can love. It's just a first step, but we had a lot of guys contribute on the score sheet and off the score sheet.

"It all adds up to a pretty good team victory."

Nashville defenseman Seth Jones, the No. 4 overall pick in the draft, played 18:35 and had three shots on goal in his debut.

"I had a couple good shifts to start the game and that carried me throughout out the game," Jones said.

Jones, who was celebrating his 19th birthday, is the son of former NBA journeyman Popeye Jones. Popeye Jones, an assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers, was in attendance.

"It was a thrill, I'm just excited to be here for this," Popeye Jones said.

Sharks 4, Canucks 1

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Justin Braun scored his first goal in more than 19 months to break a tie late in the second period and the San Jose Sharks went on to beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.

Brent Burns, Patrick Marleau and Tommy Wingels also scored for the Sharks, who have won eight straight against the Canucks including a sweep in the first round of the playoffs last season. Antti Niemi made 21 saves.

Jason Garrison scored a power-play goal and Roberto Luongo made 31 saves for the Canucks, who lost in the debut of new coach John Tortorella.

The Canucks opened this season on the same ice they ended the last one on after the disappointing early playoff exit led to the firing of coach Alain Vigneault.

Tortorella arrived and preached toughness and tighter defensive play and got results on an improved penalty-kill unit that kept the Sharks off the score sheet on seven chances, including a two-man advantage for 2 minutes. The Canucks allowed seven power-play goals in the four playoff games last season.

But Vancouver still wound up on the short end as San Jose got the better of the even strength play and did not let the blown 5-on-3 chance tilt the momentum in the second period.

The Sharks got that prime chance when Ryan Kesler interfered with Niemi at one end and before the next whistle, Garrison was called for tripping Joe Thornton.

Luongo stopped all three shots on the two-man advantage, including tough saves against Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture. But the Sharks scored 5-on-5 goals on either side of the two-man advantage in the second period.

San Jose had four even-strength goals after finishing 28th in the league in that category last season.

The first came when Thornton took the puck from Garrison in the neutral zone. Rookie Tomas Hertl slid a pass to Burns, who beat Luongo with a wrister to tie it at 1 early in the period.

Late in the period, Braun's shot from the point got through a screen by Couture for his first goal since Feb. 10, 2012. Braun had gone 85 games, including the playoffs, without a goal.

Niemi made that lead stand up, helping kill two penalties in the third period and making a sharp pad save to rob Chris Higgins midway through the period.

Marleau and Wingels added insurance goals late in the third.

Luongo was sharp early in his first game back as the No. 1 goalie in Vancouver after the offseason trade of Cory Schneider to New Jersey.

Luongo stopped all 16 shots in the opening period as the Canucks took a 1-0 lead on Garrison's power-play goal after the first of two penalties on Brent Burns.

The Sharks got the better of the play after that, but Luongo made a sharp glove save on Scott Hannan, stopped Joe Pavelski on a short-handed breakaway and turned aside a tip attempt by Couture in the final minute of the period.

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